Chapter 438

We have identified the culprit and confirmed the motive for the crime.

So, the only thing left was to question the subsequent actions.

“If that’s true… why didn’t you reveal it until now? You must know what happened because of that incident.”

The cardinals, unable to find the culprit, pinned all the blame on Wolfgang, who was a convenient scapegoat.

Wolfgang’s Bølberg Church Order and the allied Grimnir Church Order rebelled against this and began to leave the Holy City to gather their forces.

It wouldn’t have been strange if a civil war between the church orders had broken out.

No. It wasn’t that they didn’t clash swords, but in fact, it was practically a civil war already…

Anyway, if she had just revealed that it was her doing, the two church orders wouldn’t have split off.

Agnes also seemed to understand this, as her expression hardened for a moment, but it was only for a brief moment.

It took less than five seconds for a smile to return to her stiffened lips.

“Are you referring to Cardinal Wolfgang’s downfall? I didn’t expect you to question that. The one who benefited the most from it was none other than Elmain.”

…Not a wrong statement.

Thanks to the two cardinals who opposed Lacey’s actions fleeing the Holy City, the hearings and such have become much easier.

But that doesn’t mean I can praise her for doing a good job.

“You’re not suggesting you did it for me, are you? I don’t think we were that close.”

“Of course not. There were several reasons I couldn’t reveal it… The first reason was that I couldn’t be sure if only one cardinal had been touched by heresy. If the enemy was only Paulus, it would be fine, but if there were other heretics mixed in, they would target me. I didn’t want to be assassinated by remnants of heretics.”

Certainly, if it became known that Agnes was behind the attack on the apostle, her safety would be at risk.

Even though she’s a candidate saint, she’s only about middle school age. If ambushed while defenseless, she could easily lose her life.

“That’s also why I left the body outside the cathedral. To make it seem like an assassination by an outsider rather than an insider. If the body was found inside the cathedral, everyone would suspect me first. There are only a few people within the church order who could get close enough to Paulus to kill him.”

“…You could have disclosed everything and sought protection.”

“Are you joking? In a situation where the church orders are hostile to each other, if it became known that a cardinal of our church order was a heretic worshipper, it’s obvious how the other church orders would react.”

Agnes let out a bitter laugh as if to say, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“I myself suspect that there might be other heretics among the believers, so how much more would they? They would probably try to dismantle our church order under the pretext of finding heretics. To the point where we could never recover. At least, that’s what I thought.”

A cynical but accurate judgment.

Even I think the current cardinals would use the investigation as an excuse to completely crush the Menes Church Order.

“I executed the heretic for the sake of our church order and Menes, not to destroy our church order. That’s why I couldn’t reveal the truth. I was a bit surprised when the cardinals pointed to the Bølberg Church Order and when the second assassination attempt happened.”

“…I understand. Then, why are you revealing the truth to us now?”

“Uh… well, that’s… Hah… It’s really…”

Agnes hesitated as if the content was too difficult to say, then let out a deep sigh.

For a woman who boldly confessed to killing a cardinal to hesitate like this, it must be something truly shocking.

“…The body disappeared. All parts of it at once.”

As expected, Agnes made another shocking statement.

All parts? What does that even mean…?

Surely not what I’m thinking?

“Wait, disappeared?”

“Sigh… As you know, Paulus’s body found in the alley of the Holy City was retrieved by our church order. Under the pretext of investigation and funeral. I had stolen the body. I thought there might be traces of me left, and since it had come to this, dissecting the body might help us learn something about the ancient god.”

…It’s exactly what I thought.

Not satisfied with just beheading, now she’s dissecting the body herself?

How brutal can you get? What kind of saint education did the Menes Church Order provide…

Ah, come to think of it, Paulus, who was dissected, was probably her education supervisor.

Then it’s just karma.

“But on the third day, I had to leave for a moment to attend to other matters… When I returned, the body was gone. Not a single fingernail left. A dismembered body couldn’t have walked out on its own, so it must mean that there are still heretic worshippers within the church order. Moreover, someone who knows what I did. Whoever it is, they must have taken the body.”

Or… maybe the body itself came back to life.

An apostle of the ancient god might have some means of resurrection. After all, their leader is a necromancer.

In the game, since we burned the body to ashes and purified the remains, there was no resurrection.

“So, after days of not being able to sleep properly and agonizing over it, I finally came here. I couldn’t trust anyone within the church order.”

Agnes, sighing again, picked up the teacup in front of her and drank from it as if it were water.

“Really, I don’t know what to say…”

Sighs must be contagious.

Lacey also let out a deep sigh, fidgeting with her clasped hands.

Her expression clearly showed her bewilderment.

Lacey probably never expected that there would be an apostle of the ancient god within the Holy Kingdom.

She must have thought there were only a few of Isabella’s lackeys mixed in.

“An apostle of the ancient god… What do you think, Sir Median?”

“Huh, about what?”

“The identity of the person we’re looking for. Was it Cardinal Paulus who passed the information to Isabella?”

“Well… It could be, or it might not be. One is a worshipper of the evil god, and the other is a heretic worshipping the ancient god. Are the two gods on good terms?”

Whether it’s the evil god or the ancient god, both are enemies from my perspective…

Whether they are in a cooperative relationship or hostile to each other is something I can’t know without experiencing it.

Just like bandits and pirates are both thieves, but that doesn’t mean they are cooperative with each other.

If you put two groups of thieves in one place, wouldn’t they try to kill each other?

“No… That’s probably not it. According to the ancient records I’ve read, the church order that worshipped the evil god Vanargand clashed with the priests who worshipped the ancient god. Other evil god worshippers are probably similar.”

So, these guys are the same.

“Then we have to assume there are more fallen cardinals besides Paulus… Probably not Astraea, Imela, or Aushrine, but one of the others?”

Excluding those two, how many cardinals are left? Let’s see…

Shaulite, Keres, Bølberg, Grimnir, Bimos, right?

We can exclude Bimos, who does nothing.

So it’s one of the remaining four…

The suspects have been narrowed down from eleven to four, but all four are suspicious, making it hard to conclude who it is.

“Evil god worshippers? What’s that…?”

Agnes, who had been listening, expressed her confusion.

She must not have known about it.

“You know about the time we subjugated the witch Isabella, right? At that time, Lacey… I mean, Candidate Saint Elmain requested the Holy Kingdom to send secret investigators. To investigate Isabella’s identity. But somehow, information that only the cardinals should have known leaked out, and Isabella set a trap in advance, leading to everyone being wiped out. That’s why we suspected that there was someone among the cardinals connected to the witch and came here.”

Agnes was horrified by my explanation.

“Good heavens… I never thought there would be more fallen cardinals besides Paulus. How did the Holy Kingdom come to this…?”

That’s what I want to ask.

How is it that the Holy Kingdom seems more corrupt than the Empire?

—

After a while, having drunk two cups of holy water, Agnes finally revealed her true purpose for coming here.

Everything up until now was an explanation for why she came, and now she was getting to the main point.

“Please save me. If this continues, I’ll die without anyone knowing. And at the hands of heretics.”

A very simple goal.

Since she can’t trust the believers, she wants to leave the church order and cling to Lacey.

“As a fellow candidate saint, a junior seeking guidance from a senior, our church order can’t strongly oppose it. If I’m by Elmain or Princess Hashal’s side, heretics won’t be able to target me. Can’t you make it happen?”

Her tone wasn’t groveling.

Rather, it was finally showing her true age.

Brave and bold as she is, she’s still just a middle school-aged child. It’s only natural to fear death.

The problem is… we’re planning to leave the Holy City soon.

I’m not sure if we can take her with us.